Agra, 2017.08.31 (Aditya Devi, TNN): Over 18 lakh (1,800,000) vehicles were found speeding on the Yamuna Expressway in the first seven months of this year. However, in comparison to this whopping number of violations, traffic police at three toll plazas (Agra, Mathura and Jewar) on the 165km-long route issued just a little over 12,300 challans (citations), according to a reply to an RTI query.

The magnitude of the problem can be gauged from the fact that of around 5 lakh vehicles which pass through the Jewar toll plaza every month, on an average 1.5 lakh are found to be driving over the prescribed limit, according to a reply to an RTI query.

Speeding and tyre burst have been termed to be the two main causes of fatal accidents on the expressway by the Central Road Research Institute.

According to data provided by the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), the Jewar toll plaza recorded speeding by 11.01 lakh vehicles, while the Mathura toll plaza saw 2.16 lakh violations and the Agra toll plaza 4.97 lakh.

The private concessionaire stated that data for speeding is available with it and whenever a vehicle is found speeding, traffic police present at the next plaza issue challans to violators.

However, K C Jain, secretary of Agra Development Foundation (ADF), a city-based social organization, does not agree with the concessionaire on this point.

“Every day around 15,000-20,000 travel through the expressway, and not less than 50% of them violate the speed limits. There is no fear of law as very little action is taken by traffic police of Gautam Budh Nagar, Mathura and Agra. Most vehicles drive at a speed of 150-160 kmph on the expressway, but police as well as YEIDA are not taking any punitive action,” Jain told TOI.

Citing earlier replies to RTI queries, Jain said that in comparison to more than 62.7 lakh vehicles which passed through the Jewar toll plaza in 2015, challans for speeding were issued to just 8,156 vehicles.